Semester 2003B Overview and Call for Proposals

Semester 2003B Overview and Call for Proposals

Proposals are invited for observations in semester
2003B (1 August 2003 - 31 January 2004) with Gemini North and Gemini South. Here we give an overview of the
capabilities offered and other proposal guidelines and restrictions.

Proposal Deadlines and Process

Applications should be submitted via your national Gemini proposal process. The
submission deadline varies slightly from country to country, in the range 31
March - 14 April 2003 [US, UK, Canada & Australia 31 March; Univ. Hawaii 1
April; Brazil 4 April; Chile 14 April]. Specific details and requirements of the
proposal process in each partner country can be found by following the links
to National Gemini Office pages in the Phase I overview.

For partner countries using the Phase I Tool, a new version of PIT
is available.

The assessment and ranking of proposals within each partner country will be via
National Time Allocation Committees (NTACs) supported by the National Gemini Offices.
Assembly of the 2003B schedule and queue, definition of scientific ranking bands
and resolution of conflicts by the ITAC will follow the procedures described in the Phase I overview and the proposal process schedule. All data will be
subject to the normal Gemini proprietary data period of 18 months.

If submitting a program that uses both telescopes, the capabilities and time requested
on each telescope must be stated clearly in the proposal. This is required because
the National Gemini Offices will transmit separate XML files for Gemini North and Gemini
South to Gemini Observatory for scheduling. Proposals may include the use of
multiple instruments. If observations can be carried out with either GMOS (note
that they have different capabilities) you must nevertheless specify one of
them; the NTACs or ITAC may make changes.

If you submit the same proposal to several partner countries with a different PI for each country
(a "joint proposal"), be sure to identify the name of the Principal
Contact in the list of applicants. The Principal Contact need not be the same as
the proposal PI but each joint proposal must have one, and only one, Principal
Contact. The Principal Contact will be the person who will be
receiving the Phase II information and be the sole contact person for the Gemini Observatory and for the National
Gemini Offices should the program be approved for observing time. (See the joint
proposal instructions for more details; a new checkbox in PIT is used to denote
the Principal Contact).

Gemini North: Instrument Availability

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there
are restrictions on the scheduling and time available with certain instruments. Certain
modes are offered on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks). Please
see the instrument calendar
for a summary of availability and allowed RA ranges.

Facility instruments:

NIRI - near-IR imager and low-resolution spectrograph. NIRI is offered in queue
and classical
observing modes for imaging and spectroscopy.

GMOS North - optical imager, integral-field, long-slit and multi-object spectrograph. GMOS
North is offered in
queue and classical
observing modes for imaging and spectroscopy. (Pre-imaging for
classical MOS programs will be taken in queue mode).

Michelle - mid-IR spectrograph and imager. Michelle is offered in
its imaging mode for queue observing only as spectroscopy will be commissioned
during the semester. Michelle is available on a shared-risks basis.

Gemini North: Operational Modes

For semester 2003B, NIRI, GMOS and Michelle are offered in queue
observing mode. All available modes of NIRI and GMOS are also offered in classical
observing mode. (Note the restrictions on visiting observers and the 3-night
minimum classical run length, outside of special arrangements within individual partner
countries, described on the classical observing web page).
In addition, certain programs may be selected by the Gemini Director
after the ITAC for classical observation by visiting observers; please indicate
in the technical justification section of your proposal if this would be of interest.

The balance between
instruments will be driven by scientific merit via the time allocation process.
Any instrument must succeed in being awarded at least 160 hours (approx 16
nights) in order to be mounted on the telescope instrument support structure.

There is a minimum time (the sum
of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for queue/service and
classical observing (see the
descriptions
of the modes for details).

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring and follow-up) programs may be accepted on a
best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on
this class of programs.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding,
primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference
source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science
instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical
feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, all proposals
must include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should
indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification but are not
required to supply specific stars.

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted for all instruments
provided that the peripheral WFS is used (i.e. GMOS and NIRI on-instrument WFS
cannot be used).

For 2003B there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 30 deg
(i.e. declination range -40 to +80deg).

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2003B on Gemini
North: "quick response" observations, remote observing and eavesdropping.
No instrument changes during the night will be available to classical observers. No other visitor
instruments will be permitted.

Gemini North: Time Availability and Distribution

Due to the major instrument (Michelle and Altair) commissioning activities and planned primary
mirror coating during this period, in semester 2003B about 55% of the time will be made available for science use. The time available to the partner
countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for this
table. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Partner

Estimated Nights
(or Hours) Available

US

41 nights (410 hours)

Univ. of Hawaii (host time)

10 nights (101 hours)

UK

21 nights (205 hours)

Canada

13 nights (129 hours)

Australia

5 nights (53 hours)

Brazil

2 nights (22 hours)

To maintain overall balance amongst the partnership, these values have been
adjusted from the nominal partner shares as a result of the historical usage of time. Weather and other losses and visiting instrument payback are excluded
from this table. The time available includes baseline calibrations on the sky which are assumed to be shared by
all partners. The number of nights is obtained from int(hours/10).

Gemini South: Instrument Availability

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there
are
restrictions on the scheduling and time available with certain instruments. Certain
modes are offered on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks). Please
see the instrument calendar
for a summary of availability and allowed RA ranges.

Facility instruments:

GMOS South - optical imager, long-slit and multi-object spectrograph. GMOS
South is offered in
queue observing mode only for imaging and
spectroscopy. Note that the IFU is not available as it will be
commissioned later in 2003. GMOS South is available on a shared-risks basis.

T-ReCS - mid-IR imager and spectrograph. T-ReCS is offered in its
imaging mode for queue observing only as spectroscopy will be
commissioned during the semester. T-ReCS is available after 1 September on a shared-risks basis.

Whilst not a conventional facility instrument, the Acquisition
Camera is offered for broadband (BVRI) optical imaging in queue-observing mode only.
It's capabilities are limited
compared with the facility imager (GMOS South) and is best suited to
Quick-Response or high repetition rate programs. Triggers for approved
Quick-Response proposals will be accepted during all science and telescope engineering nights, as long as there is no immovable work scheduled (due to
critical engineering, personnel travel constraints or other factors), aiming for
a response time of no more than 18-24hr.

Visiting instruments:

Phoenix - high-resolution near-IR spectrograph (loaned by NOAO).
Phoenix is offered in service observing mode only to be
operated with support from the US National Gemini Office.

Gemini South: Operational Modes

For semester 2003B, GMOS, T-ReCS and AcqCam are offered in queue
observing mode only. As a visiting instrument, Phoenix will be operated in a service mode (similar to the queue) with support from the
US National Gemini Office. Certain programs may be selected by the Gemini Director
after the ITAC for classical observation by visiting observers; please indicate
in the technical justification section of your proposal if this would be of interest.

The balance between instruments
will be driven by scientific merit via the time allocation process. Any
instrument must succeed in being awarded at least 160 hours (approx 16 nights)
in order to be mounted on the telescope instrument support structure.

There is a minimum time (the sum
of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for queue/service observing (see the
descriptions
of the modes for details).

"Quick Response" programs are encouraged for use with the
Acquisition Camera (only). For 2003B such programs must be submitted through the normal
proposal process even if the specific target(s) are not known at the time of
writing (see further details of the process and
activation mechanism).

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring and follow-up) programs with
other instruments may be accepted on a
best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on
this class of programs.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding,
primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference
source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science
instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical
feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, they must
include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should
indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification. WFS stars
are not required for quick-response proposals (but will be required to execute the
observations).

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted for all instruments
provided that the peripheral WFS is used (i.e. GMOS on-instrument WFS cannot be
used).

For 2003B there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 27deg
(i.e. declination range -90 to +33deg).

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2003B: remote
observing and eavesdropping. No instrument or observing mode changes during the night will
be available. No other visitor instruments will be permitted.

Gemini South: Time Availability and Distribution

Due to the major instrument (T-ReCS, GMOS-S and GNIRS) commissioning activities
during this period, in semester 2003B about 60% of the time will be made available for science use. This
fraction includes payback to NOAO for the loan and continuing support of Phoenix (estimated at
4 nights) and payback owed to the University of Florida for the previous loan and
support of OSCIR (estimated at 10 nights), carried over to T-ReCS. The time available to
the partner countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of
the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for
this table. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Partner

Estimated Nights
(or Hours) Available

US

40 nights (398 hours)

Chile (host time)

9 nights (86 hours)

UK

21 nights (209 hours)

Canada

12 nights (121 hours)

Australia

4 nights (42 hours)

Brazil

2 night (20 hours)

To maintain overall balance amongst the partnership, these values have been
adjusted from the nominal partner shares as a result of the historical usage of time. Weather and other losses and visiting instrument payback are excluded
from this table. The time available includes baseline calibrations on the sky which are assumed to be shared by
all partners. The number of nights is obtained from int(hours/10).

Questions and Answers

All questions concerning proposals, or any other subject, should be made using the Gemini HelpDesk. This web-based
system will send the request to your National Gemini Office staff in the first instance
who will then escalate it to Gemini staff if necessary.